The estimable Gold & Gunpowder channel has produced a profile of an undersung pioneer of the Pirate Republic of Nassau — Benjamin Hornigold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhqDYhTEbtQ Hornigold is portrayed as a primary antagonist of Captain Flint in my beloved Black Sails. This is based on the historical fact that Hornigold was pushed … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Revolution In Carolina, A Pirate & The Last Of Us

Some months ago, I posted on the remarkable tale of Pablo Escobear, the poor critter that ingested 70 pounds of cocaine that was dumped out of a drug runner’s plane near the Georgia-Tennessee line. This you-can’t-make-this-shit-up episode tied together some of my favorite things, to include Waylon Jennings and Justified. I’d forgotten that a … [Read more...] about Cocaine Bear

We have a trailer for Yellowstone: 1923 — and it packs a punch. As you all know, my frontier interests range widely, both temporally and geographically, but my home range is the late period around the turn of the century and into the first couple of decades of the 20th Century. Part of that is the material culture — the era had an aesthetic that … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — 1923; Epic Frontier Music & A Fauda

Clan Cornelius is full of “themers,” which is a slightly more glamorous term for “nerd.” As you have seen on these pages, virtually everything we do somehow gets spun up into the context of some song or story. Take mashed potatoes, for example. My role in the preparation of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner is limited to wielding the sharp … [Read more...] about Peeling The Potatoes

Matt Easton of Scholagladitoria is an expert on melee weapons. Mostly he focuses on medieval themes, for obvious reasons. Penetration of plate armor and suchlike. But here we have a deep dive into period sources on the combat application of the tomahawk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or0AoV1NQt8 Matt is a tad puzzled at the reference to a … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Tomahawks & Groggy Dogs

Rogue Heroes is available in the U.S. now on Epix. It’s worth running down. Based on Ben McIntyre’s outstanding narrative history of the founding of the British Special Air Service (SAS). The casting is spot-on, especially the guy who plays Paddy Mayne. This is the work of Steven Knight, who brought us Taboo and Peaky Blinders. As with Peaky, … [Read more...] about Rogue Heroes, Line Riders & Canadiana

The Yellowstone saga will have another origin story chapter in December — this one set in the Roaring 20s. From Cowboys & Indians Magazine: This latest installment of the Dutton family origin story focuses on a new generation of Duttons led by patriarch Jacob (Harrison Ford) and matriarch Cara (Helen Mirren), and explores a fateful early … [Read more...] about Yellowstone 1923

There’s plenty of Frontier Partisan drama to be had over the next few weeks, with an East India Co. Amazon Prime limited series and the return of My Cowboy Soap Opera. The English drops today, November 11, on East India Co. Amazon Prime. Lady Marilyn and I will be watching this weekend... An Englishwoman arrives into the West in 1890 … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Deep In The West

Let me tell you a story about a bandit named Vasquez... The final podcast in the series Once Upon A Time In Los Angeles, recounting the capture of the legendary bandit Tiburcio Vasquez is now up. You can find it here or on Spotify and most other podcast platforms. Vasquez is second only to Joaquin Murietta in California bandit lore. … [Read more...] about A Corrido Of Dust & Dreams

It’s Election Day! We tend to treat the process of voting with a gloss of civic piety, but the true, virile American tradition is willful, rowdy — and often drunk. I am resolved to embrace the antics that are about to ensue in that spirit. * George Washington was a noble man who set important precedents for conduct in office that we could … [Read more...] about Line ’Em Up! It’s ELECTION DAY!